1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the treatment of shield ribbon cables in an apparatus and method for connecting shield ribbon cables to contact-type connectors so as to produce electrical harnesses. Hereinafter the shield ribbon cable will be referred to merely as the "shield cable".
2. Description of the Prior Art
To explain the background of the invention, reference will be made to FIGS. 9 and 10. The illustrated embodiment is a typical known shield cable C which comprises a signal transmission cable 3 having a core cable 1 clad in an insulating covering 2, and ground wires 8 having a core line 4 clad in a carbon fiber 5 covered with metal wires 6 of a mesh or a winding. The signal transmission cable 3 and the ground wires 8 are mutually arranged in parallel at equal intervals and wrapped in an electrically conducting foil 9, which is covered with an outermost insulating layer 10. The covering foil 9 and the insulating layer 10 constitute a sheath 11.
When the shield cables C of such structure is individually connected to contacts 13 of a contact-type connector 12 so as to fabricate an electrical harness by an automatic contact-connecting apparatus, the shield cables (C) are cut to a predetermined length, and sheath portions 11a (indicated by an imaginary line in FIG. 9) are removed, thereby connecting uncovered terminals 3a and 8a to the contacts 13 of the contact-type connector 12. This method has the following disadvantage:
Since the insulating covering 2 of the signal transmission cable 3 is made of flexible plastics, such as polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, cross-linked polyethylene and foam polyethylene, it is lengthened when the sheath portion 11a is pulled. As a result, the lengths of the uncovered terminals 3a and 8a become uneven as shown in FIG. 9. To equalize the lengths of the uncovered terminals, the terminals 3a and 8a are cut along a line S--S. The cutting of cables produces scraps 14. The scraps 14 are small pieces and easily enter in between the cutting blades, stripping blades and/or moving parts of the apparatus. Once the scraps 14 stay in these parts, they are difficult to remove, and what is worse, they tend to cause malfunction in operating the apparatus.